


the haves and have nots (five times Booth kind of misses Zack)

by torigates



Category: Bones (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-11
Updated: 2013-11-11
Packaged: 2018-01-01 03:43:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1039941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Booth remembers when Zack wouldn’t expect a response.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the haves and have nots (five times Booth kind of misses Zack)

  
1.

 

Booth doesn’t see Brennan for the two weeks after Angela and Hodgins fled from their own wedding ceremony. It reminds him of the Cleo Eller case, except this time Brennan didn’t have an assistant. Instead he just gets her answering machine every time.

Finally he breaks down and calls Cam. “Is Bones coming into work?” he asks

He hears her sigh. “Hello to you too, Seeley,” she says.

“Don’t call me Seeley, _Camille_ ,” he stresses her name.

She sighs again, and Booth can imagine her sitting in her office, pinching the bridge of her nose like she does when she’s frustrated or upset. “Yes, Dr. Brennan has been coming into work. We’ve been wondering where you’ve been, though.”

“Bones won’t return my calls!” he exclaims in his own defence as if he ever needed a reason before to just show up at the Jeffersonian.

“She’s already rejected three grad students, and she says can’t leave the lab until she finds a new assistant.”

Booth rubs his eyes. What’s wrong with them?” he asks.

“Nothing!” Booth is a little surprised at the outburst. “Sorry,” she says when he doesn’t reply. “It’s just a little hectic here without the extra help.”

“So why doesn’t she just hire somebody and get it over with?” he asks.

Cam sighs again, and Booth can really hear the frustration in it. “Why do you think?”

Booth nods.

“Just give her some time, Seeley,” she tells him when he doesn’t respond. “Dr. Brennan is missing Zack,” she pauses. “We all are.”

Booth nods. “Yeah,” he says. “Tell me about it.”

 

2.

 

“Dad?”

Booth’s doing dishes in the kitchen when he hears Parker’s voice from the bedroom.

“What is it, Parker?” he calls.

Parker’s head pokes around the corner. “Dad?” he says again.

Booth puts the sponge down and turns to face him. “What’s up?” he asks.

Parker looks down at his feet, before holding up the toy robot that Zack had given him over two years ago. “There’s something wrong with it,” he says sadly.

“Sorry, buddy,” Booth tells him. “Let me take a look.”

Parker passes it to him, and Booth turns the thing over in his hands. He can’t see anything immediately wrong with it, which isn’t surprising considering he new less than nothing about robotics.

“It probably needs new batteries,” he says, walking to the other side of the kitchen and pulling some fresh ones out of a drawer. He puts them in, but nothing happens.

“Can you fix it?” Parker asks hopefully.

“I don’t think so,” he says. “I’m not sure what’s wrong.”

“I really liked it,” Parker says a small quiver in his voice.

“I know, buddy,” Booth says, pulling him in for a hug. “I know.”

 

3.

 

For once they have a case that was going perfectly well for Booth, but not so great for the Squints. They have the guy. They have the right testimonies; they have everything they need for a good prosecution. Almost, that is.

“Cher, you know it’s not a closed door unless we have forensic evidence to back us up,” Caroline tells them. Booth sees Brennan pinch her lips into a thin line.

The Squints work overtime, practically around the clock. Booth catches Brennan asleep at her desk twice.

Angela and Brennan are working hard in Brennan’s office, and neither woman looks up when Booth walks in and plops down on the couch.

“What are you doing here?” Brennan asks him.

“I just came to see how things are going,” Booth tells her. “Is that a crime now?”

Angela looks up from where she was working on the other side of the office. “You came to gloat,” she corrects.

Booth grins. “Maybe a little,” he admits. “It’s nice to be the one finished first for a change.”

Brennan glares at him. Angela smirks. “Wait,” he says. “I didn’t mean it the way it came out.”

“Right,” Angela says, drawing out the word.

Booth opens his mouth to reply, but he’s interrupted by Hodgins running through the door.

He launches into a huge speech, most of which goes completely over Booth’s head. From his tone and the look on Brennan’s face he could only assume it was the breakthrough they’d been waiting for.

“That’s great work, Hodgins,” Brennan tells him.

Hodgins grins. “You know that makes me this week’s,” he starts out with a huge grin on his face, but trails off mid-sentence. “King of the lab,” he finishes slowly.

It’s not the same victory after that.

 

4.

 

The new interns are really bold.

They know there’s only one permanent spot available, so they’re eager to prove themselves. Daisy was the most obvious, but all of them go over the top to try and please Brennan.

Booth watches as they all run to do whatever Brennan tells them to do. As they compete with each other to solve cases and catch murders. He watches them try to fit in with the other Squints. As they go along with whatever crazy experiments Hodgins comes up with, and look appropriately sorry for Cam when they go horribly wrong.

He watches the girls trying to bond with Angela and the boys, well Booth’s sure they’d like to bond with Angela too.

And they’re all talking a mile a minute about things Booth only half understands and doesn’t really care to either.

They try to talk to Booth too and won’t go away until he acknowledges them.

Booth remembers when Zack wouldn’t expect a response.

 

5.

 

Booth walks onto the lab platform and there’s a new intern working over one of the tables. It seems like lately there’s a new intern there every case. Booth doesn’t think he’s ever seen this one before, but it’s hard to keep track of them most of the time. For a moment it feels wrong seeing someone else there. Really wrong.

It’s not something Booth expected to feel.

Then he remembers that Zack killed somebody. That Zack helped a deranged cannibalistic serial killer. That Zack interfered with an ongoing investigation. That Zack lied to them, and let Bones down. He remembers all that and tries to put that feeling out of his mind.

It’s harder than he thought it would be.


End file.
